The Map & Chart Makers

Claude Joseph Sauthier

Sauthier was born in
StrasbourgFrance in 1736 and was typical of many of the most prominent surveyors and draughtsman employed by the British to map the American colonies prior to, and during, the War of Independence.

He learned his draftsmanship from the master French garden designers Le Blond and d’Argenville, and he even produced a treatis on Public Architecture and Garden Planning in 1763.The major influence on Sauthier’s career however was William Tyron who, as the Royal British Governor of North Carolina, commissioned Sauthier to map towns and installations of military significance throughout the American colony between 1767 and 1771.Tyron also had Sauthier assist in the design of the governor’s residence now known as
TyronPalace.

In the early 1700s Tyron was appointed Governor of New York and he appointed Sauthier as Surveyor for the
Province of
New York in 1773.As a member of the British corps of engineers, Sauthier will have likely worked alongside the likes of Samuel Holland, John Montresor and Bernard Ratzer who were all employed in the region by 1776.Sauthier mapped Staten Island and
FortWashington having previously engaged upon the survey of the boundary between
New York and
Quebec.Much of Sauthier’s work was privately published in
London by William Faden during this period.

Sauthier left New York in 1776 to accompany General Hugh Percy firstly to Rhode Island and then back to England as the General’s private secretary at his ancestral home, Alnwick Castle, Northumberland.Sauthier did eventually return to his native
Alsace in 1790 where eventually died at the age of 66 yrs in 1802.

Associated Charts and Maps: A204.

Ref: A204

A plan of the operations of the King's Army under the command of General Sir William Howe against General Washington in New York and East New Jersey.